Monday night NFL schedule week one

The first week of the 2017 NFL season finishes up tonight, with one of those rare Monday night double-headers. Two football games, back to back, from 7:10 p.m. until around 1:30 a.m. ET. And that second game is between the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos, so it might actually be worth staying up for.

For Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans, though, the first game of the night will be most important: the New Orleans Saints travel to Minnesota to play the Vikings. The Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers both won their first games, so a loss for the Saints would be a pretty good thing right about now.

Whether that happens will rely mostly on whether New Orleans has finally managed to field a defense that is not a complete disaster. They still have Drew Brees, so that offense will be productive, and the defense probably doesn’t need to do that much to keep Sam Bradford in check, sadly.

Oh, also, it’s a replay of the 2010 NFC Championship Game. Huh.

The Broncos and Chargers will be more interesting: Phillip Rivers’ offense against Von Miller’s defense is always a doozy. The main question is whether Trevor Siemian has gotten better at all. We’ll find out tonight.

NFL Monday Night Schedule

7:10 p.m. ET: New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings

10:20 p.m. ET: San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos